Steamboat Springs skier Bo Randolph, left, flies down the moguls run at the Travis Mayer Competition Venue on Voo Doo run at Steamboat Ski Area. Randolph finished second in the event, even surprising himself after he nearly gave up competitive skiing during the summer.

SSWSC dominates at home freestyle event

Club skiers claim top 4 spots for men, women at regional freestyle event

Rebecca Miller flies off the bottom jump on the moguls run during Sunday's dual moguls competition at the Steamboat Ski Area. Miller went on to finish second in the Rocky Mountain regional freestyle event.

Photo by Joel Reichenberger

Lane Stoltzner, who started training with the Winter Sports Club this winter, skies down the moguls run at the Steamboat Ski Area on Sunday during a Rocky Mountain regional dual moguls competition.

Steamboat Springs  The Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club enjoyed a tremendous day on its home course Sunday, capping off two days of Rocky Mountain regional freestyle competition with a dual moguls event local skiers won’t soon forget.

Steamboat claimed the top four spots in the men’s and women’s divisions on Voo Doo run at the Travis Mayer Competition Venue at Steamboat Ski Area.

Alexa Stein won the women’s side, beating Becky Miller in the finals.

Reed Snyderman, meanwhile, won the men’s competition after Bo Randolph skidded off the course before the second kicker.

“You can’t really ask for much more,” Steamboat freestyle coach Nate Bird said afterward. “There were a ton of good skiers out here because the NorAm tour hasn’t started yet. Any time you sweep the podium on both sides, you can’t be any happier.”

Stein, who moved to Steam­boat Springs to train this winter after graduating high school in Waterville Valley, N.H., won a competition for the first time.

She beat Lindsey Cannon in the semifinals, then beat Miller in a tight competition in the finals.

“It’s great. I absolutely love it,” Stein said. “I had never thrown a backflip in duals before, and it worked well. This is a new feeling. I like it.”

Snyderman, another former Waterville Valley skier recently relocated to Steamboat, led the way for the Steamboat men. There wasn’t much drama in the final race after Randolph’s mistake, but he won tight contests earlier to stay on the championship track.

Steamboat’s Luke Farny skied to the best result of his career by finishing third. Ryan Dyer, a local veteran, fell hard in his semifinal and finished fourth.

“The course was getting real stiff and steep and firm,” Snyderman said. “I went back and went big and did what I had to do.”

For Randolph, even second place was sweet, and the bruise from his finals fall was easy to forget about.

A staple in the Winter Sports Club’s competitions for years, he said he tried to quit the sport during the summer. Once the snow started to fall, he had a change of heart, however.

He only managed to get in three days of training before Sunday’s competition, but he looked right at home throughout.

“I came in to this not expecting anything,” he said. “This was just supposed to be a fun event to get back in to it, but it worked out a little bit better. It was a lot of fun.”

Sunday’s strong showing came after Saturday’s single moguls event in which Steamboat also fared well.

Miller finished second Saturday, just behind U.S. Ski Team member Heidi Kloser.

Steamboat’s Lane Stoltzner, a recent local addition from Telluride, was third.

“Becky was second two days in a row. That’s just awesome,” Steamboat coach Rob Day said.

Robert Burden was second for Steamboat on the men’s side while Dyer finished third.